Comparing Literatures and Cultures: Theory and PracticeCOML 100, Spring 2014

Tuesday/Thursday: 3:30 to 4:50pmShiffman Humanities Ctr122

Note: Updated Syllabus always on LATTEHarleen SinghOffice: Mandel 114781-736-8485harleen@brandeis.eduOffice Hours: Tue/Th 11-12

Guest ProfessorsSue Lanser, Steve Dowden, Michael Randall, David Powelstock

This course is the required core course for the Comparative Literature major. The scope of the course acknowledges that the comparative project comprises a set of specific challenges that are also relevant to any coherent program of literary studies. As Aldo Nemesio has put it,

if we study human literary behavior, it makes little sense to base the choice of the data we analyze on where they were produced or what language they use. What happens within the boundaries of a culture can be understood only if we relate it to what happens elsewhere, that is, what is prescribed in the comparative method.1

In other words, any literary theory or approach ultimately needs to grapple with the questions raised by comparative literary inquiry. To that end, the core course touches on a number of the major theoretical trends, more or less in historical sequence, with a focus on how they address some of the following comparative issues: What does it mean that we find verbal art in all cultures? What, if anything, is universal about verbal art? What is culturally specific? How can we meaningfully compare texts, genres and themes across cultures? Across languages? Across historical periods? What is literature, anyway? All of the theoretical and methodological discussions will be applied to appropriate clusters of literary texts in various genres and originating in various cultures.

The study of comparative literature has changed dramatically since its inception in the early nineteenth century. It arose as an inquiry into the roots of European literatures in a common classical tradition, with a decidedly Eurocentric mission. By now, of course, comparative literature has become far more inclusive and global in scope. Many have even suggested supplanting the old rubric with “World Literature.” Be that as it may, one of the consequences of these developments has been a nearly constant sense of crisis within the field as to its purpose and direction. This history, far from being a weakness, is in fact a symptom of field’s greatest strength, vitality and relevance to literary studies in general and to the present moment in the development of global studies. The history of

1 Aldo Nemesio, “The Comparative Method and the Study of Literature.” CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, 1:1 (March 1999). <http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol1/iss1/1>, accessed 4 May 2008.

1

comparative literature is in a certain sense the history of a discipline that has always grappled with the steady (and sometimes cataclysmic) advent of a global perspective. For this reason, the scope and structure of the course are designed also to touch upon the field’s own inner struggles. An exciting byproduct of this additional focus is the opportunity to discuss the broader issues of the academy in the global context.

Course Aims Acquaintance with the basic literary theories and critical tools used in

comparative literary studies Practical and reflective experience in comparing texts of various genres across

time periods, cultures, languages and genres using these theories and tools Understanding of the history of comp lit as an intellectual endeavor, especially in

view of changing socio-political contexts Survey of the current state of the field, its major questions and concerns, and its

prospects

TextsJonathan Culler Literary Theory: A Very Short IntroductionJoseph Conrad Heart of DarknessR.K. Narayan The Guide

Additional Readings on LATTE

AssignmentsResponse Papers for each module, 10% each 50%Mid-Term 20%Research Paper 20%Attendance and Participation 10%

Week 1: Professor SinghJanuary 14, 2014 Introduction

January 16, 2014 Chapter 1 from Culler (What is Theory?)“The Second Coming,” W.B. YeatsExcerpt from Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe)Excerpt from Purple Hibiscus (Chimananda Adichie)

Week 2 and 3: Professor Michael Randall Medieval Interpretation January 21, 2014 On Analogy and Allegory: Aquinas

I) Jonathan Culler, "Language, Meaning, and Interpretation," Chapter 4 of Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction,

55-68.I) Thomas Aquinas:

2

1) "Whether In Holy Scripture a Word May Have Several Senses, Summa Theologiæ (ST) qu. I, art. 10, 17-19.2) "Whether To Be Good Belongs to God," ST, qu. 6, arts. 2-3,

46-48.3) "Whether Any Created Intellect Can See the Essence of God,

ST, qu. 12, arts. 1-2, 70-74.4) "Whether What is Said of God and of Creatures is Univocally

Predicated of Them," ST, Qu. 13, art. 5, 106-09.5) "Whether Names Predicated of God are Predicated Primarily of Creatures," ST, qu. 13, art. 6, 109-111.6) "Whether It is Necessary that Every Being Be Created by

God," ST, qu. 44, art. 1, 233-35.7) "Whether the Multitude And Distinction of Things is From

God," ST, qu. 47, art. 1, 259-61.

January 23, 2014 On Analogy and Allegory: DanteDante:1) Letter 10, in Dantis Alagherii epistolæ, The Letters of Dante,

198-200.2) The Inferno, trans. D. Sayers, Cantos 1-5, and 33-34; 70-103,

278-291.

January 28, 2014 On Singularity and Understanding: OckhamI) William of Ockham:1) "The Primacy of Singular Things," Quodlibeta I, qu. 13, 27-

31.2) "The Problem of Universals," Summa totius logicæ, I, qu. 16,

32-34.3) "A Universal is Not a Thing Outside the Mind," Summa totius logicæ, I, qu. 16, 35-37.4) "On Intutitive Understanding," Ordinatio, D. I, qu. 9, 103-06.5) "Univocity and Analogy," Reportatio, III, q. 8, 106-13.

January 30, 2014 On Singularity and Expression: Boccaccio Response Paper Due1) Boccaccio, The Decameron, Foreword, Introduction,

novellas 1-5, 4-49.

Week 4 and 5: Professor LanserFebruary 4, 2014

Culler, chapter 6 (on narrative)Eliza Haywood, “Fantomina, or Love in a Maze” (1725), through section27 (e-text)

3

February 6, 2014 Haywood, “Fantomina,” sections 28-29 (to end)Culler, Chapter 7 (on performativity)Sarah Chapone, from “The Hardships of the English Laws in Relation toWives” (1735)

February 11, 2014 Rousseau, from “Emile”Isabelle de Charrière, “Letters of Mistress Henley” [Lettres deMistriss Henley]  (1784), Letters 1-4 

February 13, 2014 Response Paper DueCharrière, “Mistress Henley,” Letters 5-6"Woman's Petition to the National Assembly" (1789)

Week 6: Spring Break (February 17-21)

Week 7 and 8: Professor PowelstockFebruary 25, 2014 Poetry and Prose

Wainwright, "Because There Is Language There Is Poetry"Hirsch, How to Read a Poem (excerpts)Reread Yeats, "The Second Coming"Selected Poems

February 27, 2014 Culler, Literary Theory, Ch. 5Selected poems

March 4, 2014 Poetic Forms: The SonnetSelected sonnets

March 6, 2014 Love Poems of the WorldSelected love poetry

Week 9 and 10: Professor Dowden Against Method

March 11, 2014

Chapter 2 from Culler (What is Literature and does it matter?)

Rick Roderick on the Masters of Suspicion: http://www.youtube. com /watch? v=4wetwETy4u0 (if you don’t want to watch the entire lecture, begin at about minute 23)

Rita Felski,Suspicious Minds (attached)

4

Susan Sontag: Against Interpretation (attached)

OPTIONAL: Ricoeur, The Critique of Religion (attached)

March 13, 2014

Walker Percy "The Fateful Rift,” Adorno: "The Essay as Form," Sontag: "On Style"

March 18, 2014

Babel: "Di Grasso"

Chekhov: "In the Ravine": http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/c/chekhov/anton/c51wit/chapter11.html

March 20, 2014

Kafka: "A Report to an Academy”

Week 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16: Professor SinghMarch 25, 2014 Response Paper Due

Mid-Term

March 27, 2014 Spivak “The Burden of English.” Postcolonial Discourses, An Anthology. Ed. Gregory Castle. Oxford: Blackwell Books, 2001. 53-72. Chapter 8 from Culler (Identity, Identification, and the Subject)

April 1, 2014 The Guide, R.K. Narayan

April 3, 2014The Guide, R.K. Narayan

April 8, 2014 Response Paper DueSpivak, “How To Read a 'Culturally Different' Book."  Colonial Discourse / Postcolonial Theory.  Ed. Francis Barker, Peter Hulme, and Margaret Iversen.  Manchester: Manchester UP, 1994.  126-150. 

April 10, 2014 George Lamming, “Colonialism and the Caribbean Novel,” Postcolonial Discourses, An Anthology. Ed. Gregory Castle. Oxford: Blackwell Books, 2001. 271-279.Stuart Hall, “Negotiating Caribbean Identities,” Postcolonial Discourses, An Anthology. Ed. Gregory Castle. Oxford: Blackwell Books, 2001. 280-292.

Week 14-15: Passover Break (April 15-22)

5

April 24, 2014 Heart of Darkness

April 29, 2013 [Last Day of Class]Chinua Achebe, “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness,” Postcolonial Discourses, An Anthology. Ed. Gregory Castle. Oxford: Blackwell Books, 2001. 209-220.

Final project due: May 5, 2014

6